They Do This Every Year?

I finished reading Ben Okri's "The Famished Road" on Friday (that was July 27th) having taken 37 days - a new record! Not the sort of record I've been hoping for, but a record nonetheless.  It was a really interesting read, an absolute feast of words and imagery.  I enjoyed it.  It's a story about a 'spirit child' who chooses to live rather than return to the spirit land, and the story is filled with his wanderings and various attempted abductions by spirits trying to return him to the spirit land.  It's a bit random, and the time line is difficult to follow, but it was a fun novel.

I'm a bit concerned with one of review quotes on the back of my copy.  Philip Howard of 'The Times' says "the message is universal" and to be honest, I'm just not sure what that message is! Another of the quotes, Jenny Turner of 'New Statesmen & Society', says "Overwhelming.... just buy it for it's beauty"! I think perhaps she didn't get the universal message either, and just enjoyed it for the delicious wonder of the language.  Sometimes a beautiful novel can just be a beautiful novel, right? I think I'll probably read it again though, just to be sure!

I'm already halfway into my next read, Michael Ondaatje's "The English Patient", and I'm sure if I can convince myself not to watch four-hours of Olympic coverage after work again (Go Team Canada!) I'll be able to finish it tomorrow. Of course, I'm also knitting a lovely new shawl (Memoria by Oblivious Knits, in 'Silver Lining' from the lovely & local Dragonfly Dyewerx, for those curious) so that's a bit distracting as well.  But I am impressed with the novel so far.  It's living up to my expectations of it anyhow!

It needs to be said - yes, there is no way I'm going to make my goal of reading all the Man Booker prize winners in 12 months. I have 22 books left to read, and only 42 days. If I were only reading books I absolutely loved, and not working full-time, or watching Olympics/any TV, or knitting, or sleeping, I would say 'Sure, I can make that!' but, sadly or not, I must also live outside the pages. I am not going to give up entirely, I will continue to read only the Booker books until I catch up, which means I will be doing this for the rest of my life. Did you know they do this every year?! ;)

There are a few really interesting looking titles on the 2012 long list! It will be interesting to see what happens this year, since only one of the authors is of the 'old guard' and the rest are all first-time nominees. I'm a bit cynical, though, so I admit I will be disappointed but unsurprised if Hilary Mantel's sequel to her 2010 Man Booker prize winning novel "Wolf Hall", "Bring Up The Bodies", wins - even though I've heard great things about "Wolf Hall', and I'm sure the new novel is wonderful too! It would be fantastic to see a new winner. I was a bit disappointed that Patrick Dewitt's "The Sisters Brothers" didn't win last year, since I've heard nothing but good things about it.  I had hoped that I would be finished with the past winners in time to at least read this years short-list before the prize is awarded, but again, so not going to happen.  Regardless, it will be interesting to see who wins!

Happy Reading!

Better Late Than Never?

Wow. I'm sorry it's been such a ridiculously long time since my last post. My vacation in Ireland was fantastic! I always love it there but it's extra special when you get to share the experience with friends you love. Most of the month since I got back has been dedicated to finishing the Anna shawl KAL which was hosted over at http://www.ridiculousknits.blogspot.ca/ - it was a challenge for me, but a gorgeous knit and I had a lot of fun with it. This is it, blocking on my bed, looking way too gorgeous to be accused of sucking away 6 weeks of my reading life. 

As for my Man Booker challenge, well, it hasn't been going so great! I managed to read one novel during my holiday, Stanley Middleton's "Holiday", which was really no holiday. Irony, yes? This novel would probably have been quite sad and even a bit depressing if I had felt enough of a connection with it to care even a little bit about the characters, but I didn't. The protagonist walks out of his marriage but has no place to go, so takes a holiday at the resort town his family visited when he was a child. While there he reminisces about his father and the relationship he will never have with his own son, while dealing with his in-laws attempts to reconcile him with his wife. It's really a novel about grief and how we process it in different ways, told in a series of flashbacks, but because the main character is in such a numb, dissociative state of mind I found it really difficult to connect with him.

On the flight home I started reading David Storey's "Saville" - an absolute brick of a coming of age novel. If I'd been reading a physical book rather than an eBook I'm certain I would have found it's size quite daunting. It's a semi-autobiographical novel about the son of a coal miner growing up during WWII in a small village in England, dealing with his family's pressure to make the most  of the opportunities he has been given and his own desires to be a poet, and it's very beautifully phrased.  Unfortunately it seemed like nothing actually happened in the story, other than his growing up.  There were lots of opportunities within the story for a little added plot but... nothing happened.  I enjoyed the novel, but I was disappointed with that.

Now I'm reading Ben Okri's "The Famished Road" - I'm only about a fifth of the way into it, but it feels a bit like a cross between Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" (the way I would've loved for it to be written, really fantastic!) and "Saville" - a young boy growing up in a magical world within our own.  Only, kind of not quite.  Time will tell if I love it or not, but hopefully not too much time.  My goal is to be finished it by Monday.  There are lots of interesting looking books coming up on the list, and I want to get to them!!

Happy reading!